VCAA EXAMS-Easiest to Hardest?

[TrebleClef]

What order would you rank the VCAA exams, from the easiest year to the hardest year, from 2006 onwards

[thushan]

Easiest to hardest:

2006
2008
2009
2010
2007
2011
2012
2013

[bobisnotmyname]

I think it would different for everybody as everyone has their strengths an weaknesses, unless your going of by average scores for the test?

[thushan]

Going by experience and average scores for the test.

[TrebleClef]

Easiest to hardest:

2006
2008
2009
2010
2007
2011
2012
2013

Thank you!

[lzxnl]

The 2013 exam 2 admittedly was pretty ridiculous. I just finished it and although my time and score on the exam wouldn't suggest I had much trouble with it, some questions are just so trippy. Like 4c; how on earth is that only two marks!? MC 16 tricked a lot of people as well; the percentage of people getting it right was close to the guess percentage of 20%

[Yacoubb]

The 2013 exam 2 admittedly was pretty ridiculous. I just finished it and although my time and score on the exam wouldn't suggest I had much trouble with it, some questions are just so trippy. Like 4c; how on earth is that only two marks!? MC 16 tricked a lot of people as well; the percentage of people getting it right was close to the guess percentage of 20%

Do you reckon VCAA would do something like that again?

[lzxnl]

I have no idea. You'd expect them to tone it down a bit, but given the last three years have all had A+ cutoffs of 80%, maybe VCAA likes having a decent spread. I mean, it certainly beats a spesh exam 1 cutoff of 95%.
To be honest, having a few challenging questions is good though. Otherwise, you have no way of telling which students actually really know what they're doing.

[faredcarsking123]

I don't know if its because I'm tired as I've already done 2 Exam 1's and 1 Exam 2 before it, But I found the Extended Response of 2007 Exam 2 VERY DIFFICULT

[psyxwar]

I don't know if its because I'm tired as I've already done 2 Exam 1's and 1 Exam 2 before it, But I found the Extended Response of 2007 Exam 2 VERY DIFFICULT

really? what did you have trouble on?

[faredcarsking123]

really? what did you have trouble on?

Just from memory

Last 2 of Q3
Last Q from Q5

Those I didn't even understand with solutions, but a lot more were tricky that I only got after I read solutions

I got 58/80 for that exam while in some others i got like 70,72,74 but on average i get like 67ish

[chuck981996]

Do you reckon VCAA would do something like that again?

I think it will be as hard or harder this year. They got a better spread last year, but people still got 100%. It's still not hard enough, which can be seen especially by the fact that more people got 50 than 49 - i.e. there were too many perfect scores. Also, the trend has been getting harder every year, so no reason to see why it would taper off…

[psyxwar]

Just from memory

Last 2 of Q3
Last Q from Q5

Those I didn't even understand with solutions, but a lot more were tricky that I only got after I read solutions

I got 58/80 for that exam while in some others i got like 70,72,74 but on average i get like 67ish

Q3 d)i) One stationary point implies that g'(x) only intersects the x-axis once. Hence, its discriminant is zero and you solve for the value of c.

ii) let x=a be the point where the stationary point occurs. g'(a)=0, and from this you can work out the value of a. Then, using g(a)=a you can also work out the value of k.

Q5 f) you want to solve dT/dx=0 for k, given that x=sqrt(7)/2
This gives you a value of k, however note from the equation in 5c that as k increases the time it takes to swim up the river also increases. Thus, for any value of k bigger than this, the fastest route will still be for Tasmania Jones to run directly to the desalination plant. Hence, k is greater than or equal to the value you found.

[thushan]

more people got 50 than 49

That's a result of the way they do the normal distribution for study scores - not because of the exam. 50 is like top 0.2% or something, and 49 is top 0.3% but not top 0.2% => meaning about 0.1% of the state get exactly 49, less than the number who get 50.

[Professor Polonsky]

That's a result of the way they do the normal distribution for study scores - not because of the exam. 50 is like top 0.2% or something, and 49 is top 0.3% but not top 0.2% => meaning about 0.1% of the state get exactly 49, less than the number who get 50.

Yeah, because of the truncation. You get 49 if your standardised score (standard distribution, mean 30 sd 7 though you probably know this) is between 48.5 and 49.5. Meanwhile, you get 50 if it's higher than 49.5.

It could be a bit of both, though - if enough people get perfect scores, you can see more than 0.27% of 50's.